Brian Ropp

This is Brian’s story. Brian is a loving husband, wonderful father and grandparent to 4 lovely grandkids. This journey started many years ago with chronic headaches and migraines. For the last eight months, he has had constant headaches and face pain 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He also has had some difficulty with balance and decreased coordination. Other symptoms have included vision disturbances (blurring, double vision), dizziness, nausea, burning and watering eyes, sleep disturbances, confusion, anxiety and mood changes.

His primary care provider treated him for a sinus infection and sent him to an ENT. He was put on eight different antibiotics. He was also sent to my dentist and had a molar extracted, thinking that was the cause. Both the dentist and the ENT thought he should see a neurologist. He had multiple referrals to neurology but have been unable to get an appointment locally. It has been over two months since the last ENT visit, and the pain and other symptoms continue, with the confusion, vision and mood changes worsening.

His primary care provider finally ordered an MRI, which showed a Pineal Cyst about the size of a large marble that is causing all of these symptoms. There are not many neurosurgeons in the United States who will do this surgery. We found an exceptional Dr. in South Carolina, Dr Patel and are scheduled for surgery on May 16.